Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – Our Review

So Geeks all over flocked to the theaters to see Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The gang from Between the Staples all went to the see the movie this past weekend, check out review…

SPOILERS yah blasted Nerf Herder!

Robert: It Fncking Rocks. End of story. 😛

Robert: Okay. Let’s get into it. So Disney FINALLY decided to go balls to the wall and FINALLY give us Geeks & Star Wars Fandom a True WAR MOVIE. You can try to think otherwise and fool yourself but in the end, Rogue One is a War movie. It’s NOT Oceans 11 Star Wars. It’s NOT Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Nope. If it’s anything, it’s The Bridge on the River Kwai Star Wars version. WHY? Because it’s a war movie that you don’t expect the “heroes” to survive. I never did in watching The Bridge on the River Kwai & the same was here but what I watched for was HOPE.

Ian: Right from the start, when the earlier details of this ambitious project started coming out, we had a clear scope of what this movie would be about. There’s no swashbuckling Jedi/Sith fights, the tone will be darker and it will center on events leading up to A New Hope. Once the title was given, Rogue One, it invokes the old EU feel of popular X-Wing novel series of giving us a story about characters that have deal with overwhelming odds without a sense of a safety net that the usual episodic movies have.

We have hope. Rebellions are built on hope! – Jyn Erso

Robert: I love that Gareth Edwards remembered that there’s the word WAR in Star Wars. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is brutal in it being a Disney movie with it’s violence. Check out the extremists taking on the Empire in the holy city Jedah. Watch bodies & body parts blowing up all over the place. How many stormtroopers get killed? A sh!t fncking TON!

Ian: When it’s time to get gritty, it really nails it pretty dead on. What’s more surprising is when it’s the quiet desperation such as when Cassian meets his imperial contact at the start of the movie. Right off the bat, this asteroid city base is impressive to look at but it’s what Cassian does to survive that sets the tone of the movie. As the contact pleads with Andor to get him to safety, the Rebel assures him everything will be fine and then pulls the trigger. No dead weight, this is a soldier with a mission and he’s willing to get his hands dirty when the chips are down.

Make ten men feel like a hundred. – Cassian Andor

Robert: Rebel Alliance showed us ONE thing we never saw before. Fear and it’s the PERFECT counter to the HOPE that the movie is about. Many in the Alliance want to run & hide or surrender. Only Jyn stands up & tells them all to take a stand, here and now. Take the fight to the Empire, get the plans to the Death Star NOW!

Robert: I freaking LOVE villains and Director Krennic is a very nice antagonist by the brilliant Ben Mendelsohn. Tasty because of his greed for power & ego that ultimately kills him. That said – Riz Ahmed as Bodhi Rook stole the movie even when Alan Tudyk was brilliant as K-2SO with the best lines. Riz Ahmed SOLD his role as someone who wanted, needed to make amends for his past working for the Empire. The same was also shadowed by both Felicity Jones as Jyn Erso and Diego Luna as Cassian Andor.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – Director Krennic

Ian: Krennic is interesting in the sense that he walks this line between being in charge and also being a punching bag to those in higher command. He’s an ambitious man, devoted to the cause of the Empire and he uses his connection to Galen Erso as stepping stone to ensure his importance. Sometimes, he oversteps his boundaries as his meeting with Darth Vader ends on a chilling note. What is perceived as a pun is a warning to Krennic, don’t let your ambitions get the best of you.

Robert: Overall, I think this may be one of the top 3 best Star WARS films that’s been made. It expanded the Star Wars Universe in ways that can only be more imaginative and a wonderful jumping on / building on point. GO see it & enjoy!

Ian: My only criticism of the film is that while the film sprinkles some character developed for Cass and Jyn, the rest of the main cast are still side note characters. It slows down to make some plot points sink in but starts getting very heavy in the action at the end, having a slight uneven pacing to the flick but it’s an exhilarating ending note, one that draws from elements of the film and even EU to finish with one big bad ass bang.

Ian: The only other thing that should be mentioned is the full CGI used for Tarkin as for the most part, it worked out pretty well but the part with Leia was too uncanny and felt like an obligation given the one liner said at the end sunk in that moment even further.

Riz Ahmed as Bodhi Rook

I’m one with the Force, and the Force is with me. – Chirrut Îmwe

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – the builing of the 1st Death Star

Arctic Grodd: Hello there, December 16th has come, passed, and I have seen Rogue One twice. Bear with me as I try and condense a four hour conversation into a few paragraphs. I usually fail at concise. The first time I saw the movie I started with worry planted firmly in the back of my head. I wanted the movie to be good. Not because I missed good Star Wars experiences, I can find those watching (Sta Wars) Rebels, or reading a few of the new canon books. No I need this movie to be good, because JJ’s outing lost it’s luster quickly. Okay to be fair that has less to do with Star Wars and more to do with how passionately I dislike JJ’s directing style.

Arctic Grodd: Rogue One is the war film I always wanted from the franchise. It delivered splendidly with a concise story that efficiently introduced itself, it’s character, it’s plot, and then run fast and furiously headlong to it’s ending. Was it Shakespeare? Of course not, it’s a sci-fi action movie, ponderings about the human condition need not apply. Blasters, starships, over the top heroics are what we are there for, and we get all that in heaps of glorious special effects. The fact that I can tell you the motives of every character is leaps and bounds above some of this year’s movie fair.

Rogue One: A Star Wars story – Rebel Exteremist

Arctic Grodd: Were there problems? Sure. The main complaint I had upon first blush was the obvious computer game play ability of Beach World’s battle (Battle of Scarif). I realize now that is not a fault of Rogue One as much as an indication of the gaming industry’s capacity to use movie quality story elements in their own narratives. Games feel like movies and special effect extravaganza feel like video games. This is not a new trend. Besides when the DLC for the battlefield game comes out and you suddenly feel like you’re in the movie are you really going to complain?

Save the Rebellion! Save the dream! – Saw Gerrera

Arctic Grodd: I regret the far too quick death of one character (Saw Gerrera). I long for a back story novel about two of the characters (Chirrut Îmwe & Baze Malbus). I want to know more about the world they are rebuilding. I can’t think of a better compliment then that. I want more. Thank goodness for the comics, short stories, and novels filling the void. It was fun to see Tarkin again, and hearing that the Rebel Alliance isn’t all white hats. The space battle was gorgeous and extravagant in the manner I have always wished to see. Sublime.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – PAO

Also check out the Original Soundtrack to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story here (Thanks Ian for the heads up on this!):